FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas is still searching for its first SEC win and will face Auburn on Saturday.

Bobby Petrino has the Razorbacks playing hard, but they are still coming up short on the scoreboard. Quarterback Taylen Green has been outstanding for Arkansas, but he has also taken some sacks by holding onto the ball. However, he has also broken away from defenders for long gains when it looked like he would be sacked.

"Yeah, it's a fine line," Petrino said. "You know, you want to make sure you give his athletic ability a chance to make plays for us. But we also have to understand situations, and you know the one play when we were coming out and we had a nice double move and had it open, we unfortunately didn't protect it. That was one where I would just like to see him get outside the pocket, throw it away. Understand that second-and-10 is an okay situation. It's not a negative play for us. 

"I think one of the issues we always grade the game on is how many negative plays did we have, and how many negative plays did we force? And we had way too many negative plays in that game, but then he also makes huge plays running with the ball. So it's a fine line. You don’t want to take away his instincts and athletic ability, but he does need to understand the situations of the game. And you know, his maturity now, his experience now, it’s something that he can handle, that I think he can do that."

Green's favorite target when he passes has been transfer wide receiver O'Mega Blake. He has caught 42 passes for 582 yards and four touchdowns. Petrino praised Blake on Monday.

"Since he’s come back from spring, even over the summer, he’s been very highly motivated," Petrino said. "His effort, his speed, his toughness as far as how he practices, he just really elevated it and really said to everybody out there on the field, ‘hey, I’m going to be number one guy around here,’ just by how he practices and how he plays, he’s a very tough-minded young man and a tremendous competitor."

While the defense has struggled that isn't the case with offense.

"I think our guys are very confident and they have executed at a high level, particularly, against Tennessee and A&M too, I call good defenses," Petrino said. "We get another challenge this week with Auburn coming in. So it's our preparation has to be really good, our understanding of their movements and stems. Our players are consistently getting more football intelligence and more football instincts on the offensive side of the ball and they have great confidence in it. Communication has been good up front. Our center helps that a lot and then our playmakers are making plays. So we just got to continue it."

One reason for the success of the offense has been the line staying healthy. Petrino knocked on wood when that question was asked Monday.

"You’re not supposed to say that," Petrino said. "They've done a nice job. I think it starts with our center being able to understand the offense and know the calls and know how to make the calls and get it communicated. They've done a nice job of working together, and they put a lot of pressure on each other. I think that's a great job with the with the offensive line is they take a lot of pride in it, and when they make an error or make a mistake, they address it amongst themselves and try to work hard not to do that."

Petrino was quick to credit Eric Mateos for fixing the offensive line problems and recruiting well.

"Yeah, he's done a great job recruiting wise and the players that we have coming in and the ones that we were able to keep, those guys you got to recruit harder, maybe, than the ones that you go get," Petrino said. "I like the depth we have behind it. We've got a good, young crew coming up, so I think there's some real stability there, and it's a credit to how well he has done recruiting and his communication and respect that the players have for him."

Arkansas (2-5, 0-3) will be home again on Saturday when they play host to Auburn (3-4, 0-4) at 11:45 a.m. on the SEC Network. Auburn fell to Missouri 23-17 Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium.